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While there are many valid, important reasons why plastic use should be limited, it can seem slightly pointless when you live somewhere so far removed from the effects of plastic pollution.

Go on holiday to some of the most Instagrammable of locations, however, and you’ll see exactly why we need to cut down on the bottles, bags and coffee cup lids.

Blogger Amelia Whelan has been sharing the grim reality of exotic beaches in Bali – the side you don’t see on all these #wanderlust feeds.

‘This is the real sh*t that you don’t see on your newsfeed,’ she says.

‘This is the beach right outside the popular tourist destination you and your friends have had on your bucket list for years. This is the beach right next to the famous surf break you’ve always dreamed of paddling out at. This is the beach around the corner from the cute hipster cafe that sells those fancy açaí bowls you’ve always wanted to try. This is the beach directly below the beautiful infinity pool you’ve always wanted to take a photo in. This is the beach our children will grow up on. This is the beach I’ll grow up on.

Amelia says that the pictures she’s posted are just a ‘minuscule fraction’ of the devastation and were taken while she was walking down the beach.

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The bits of plastic you see aren’t even broken down – we’re talking about complete plastic cups and bottles, not microplastics.

Microplastics come later in the chain, once these objects have released toxic substances into the oceans.

While Amelia talks of beaches in far-flung places, the plastic pollution is affecting our seas much closer to come.

You don’t have to go to places like West Africa or East Asia to see the impact. When we think about plastic pollution, it’s easy to conjure up images of shantytowns drowning in black plastic sacks or dirty beaches in far-flung developing countries. And while that’s not untrue, the terrifying reality is that we’re seeing the effect of our plastic addiction far closer to home; the Mediterranean Sea is, according to Plastic Pollution Solutions, ‘incredibly impacted’.

in 1950, we were consuming around five million tonnes of plastic. In 2014, that figure had shot up to 311 million. And the 2015 Plastic Europe Report predicts that that figure is set to double in the next 20 years.

So imagine what these beaches will look like by then if we don’t act now.

What can we do about it?

Decrease your plastic consumption – carry re-usable bags, stop accepting disposable coffee cups, avoid takeaway packaging and wash the plastic you do use so that it has a better chance of being recycled.